is deserved by the admirable little anthology of letters which
has just been added to " The World's Classics." Its range extends from Sir Thomas More at the end of the fifteenth century to the Brownings in the middle of the nineteenth. Our one criticism is the omission (though we are aware that omissions are inevitable in such a work) of any of Cromwell's letters. Every reader will find something to his taste, whether familiar or unknown, if he dips at random among the pages of the anthology. But if he looks through it more systematic- ally he will gain much insight into the history of the fascinating art of letter-writing—an art which foolish pessimists believe to have been abolished by the introduction of penny postage. Certainly the last pages of this collection are no less delightful than the first, and it is from one of the last pages that we
shall quote sonic words that we have come upon containing a criticism of Jane Austen sent by Charlotte Bronte to G. H.
Lewes :-
"I had not seen Pride and Prejudice till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate, dag-uerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a care- fully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers ; but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy. no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined hougeq. These observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk."
It would be a pleasing literary exercise to construct a corresponding letter written by Miss Austen after reading Jane Eyre.
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